YouTube Addicts On The Rise: 71% Of US Adults Use Video-Sharing Sites

According to a new Report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 71 percent of online Americans are now using video-sharing sites like YouTube and Vimeo. The number jumped 5 percentage points to 71 from 66 percent last year, and continues to grow. On any given day more than a quarter of us (28%) are visiting online video sharing sites, as opposed to May 2010, when only 23 percent of viewers visited the sites on any given day. It’s clear that online video viewing is on the rise.
Kathleen More, the author of the Pew report, writes, “The rise of broadband and better mobile networks and devices has meant that video has become an increasingly popular part of users’ online experiences. People use these sites for every imaginable reason—to laugh and learn, to watch the best and worst of popular culture and to check out news. And video-sharing sites are very social spaces as people vote on, comment on, and share these videos with others.”

You can see this growth illustrated in the chart below.

Other interesting statistics mentioned in the Pew report are as follows:

Parents spend more time on video sites than the rest of the general public—81 percent of parents visit sites like YouTube while only 61 percent of non-parents do

Are you surprised by these statistics? Did you think there were more or less people visiting online video sites? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

Megan O’Neill is the resident web video enthusiast here at Social Times. Megan covers everything from the latest viral videos to online video news and tips, and has a passion for bizarre, original and revolutionary content and ideas.